School jobs case: Court asks Partha, others to follow bail norms, or face cancellation

Kolkata, Nov 26 A special CBI court here on Wednesday asked all accused, including former minister Partha Chatterjee, in a school jobs irregularities case to ensure personal appearance on hearing dates or else their bail will be liable to cancellation.

The CBI case against Chatterjee and some other senior officials pertains to irregularities in recruitment of teachers in classes 9-10 and 11-12 and Group C employees in West Bengal government-run and -aided schools.

Additional district and sessions judge Suvendu Saha directed that the matter will appear for hearing again on January 6, 2026.

The court asked all the accused in the case to ensure personal presence on every hearing date as per bail conditions, or else their bail will be liable to cancellation.

Chatterjee, who was released on bail in the case in the second week of November, was not present personally owing to medical reasons and was represented in the court by his lawyers.

Apart from Chatterjee, the other accused persons in the case include former West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) chairman Subires Bhattacharya, former chairman of SSC's advisory committee S P Sinha and former West Bengal Board of Secondary Education president Kalyanmoy Ganguly.

All the accused secured bail in the case pertaining to alleged illegalities in school jobs recruitment in West Bengal government-run and -aided schools.

The former minister was arrested in July 2022 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and thereafter by the CBI in October, 2024.